The Cleveland Browns need to tell Johnny Manziel to slow down. If they’ve already delivered the message, they should do it again. They should do it every chance they get because, well, the celebrity rookie continues to party every chance he gets.

A month ago, I defended the trip Manziel took to Las Vegas during Memorial Day weekend because I believe Johnny Football could let loose poolside and even spray champagne into a crowd at a nightclub in late May without those activities precluding him from becoming a successful quarterback for the Browns. But I also wrote that Manziel would deserve criticism for having his priorities out of whack and lacking commitment if he continued to tear it up with great frequency.

Since the Vegas vacation, Manziel hasn’t taken a weekend off from partying. His living-life-to-the-fullest streak extended to five consecutive weekends when he went out Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Houston, as documented on social media and then passed along by BustedCoverage.com.

TMZ.com published a photograph of Manziel drinking from a bottle of champagne Sunday while watching the World Cup in a pub and sports bar. He was in Houston the previous weekend, too, barely able to keep his eyes open as he pretended a stack of cold, hard cash was a phone while dropping an F-bomb on video. Let’s not forget the bottle of alcohol atop an inflatable swan the weekend before in Austin, Texas, and the Los Angeles nightclub rendezvous with rapper Drake while in town for the NFL Players Association Rookie Premiere late last month.

We’ve reached the point where some of you will scoff — if you haven’t already — because there have been no indications that Manziel has done anything illegal. He’s 21 and many people his age party and drink on a regular basis. I readily admit I was one of them.

But I never received an $8.25 million contract to play quarterback for an NFL franchise. Yes, New York Jets great Joe Namath won a Super Bowl and became a Hall of Fame quarterback despite acting like a wild man in the ’60s and ’70s, though it’s hardly a recipe for success.

This week, Manziel should receive valuable reminders along those lines.

The NFL Rookie Symposium is underway in Aurora, Ohio. The NFC players arrived Sunday and will be schooled through Wednesday. Their AFC counterparts, including Manziel and the Browns’ other five picks from this year’s draft, will arrive Wednesday and attend the orientation through Saturday.

As described by the NFL, the symposium includes presentations, videos and workshops on player health and safety, decision-making, mental health, substance abuse, workplace respect and maintaining positive relationships. In other words, it’s a crash course on how to prevent off-field behavior from derailing a career.

Those are the types of lessons the Browns must emphasize when handling Manziel, the 22nd overall pick who’ll battle veteran Brian Hoyer for the starting quarterback job this summer.

MANZIEL CAPABLE

Manziel is capable of conducting himself the way teams believe the face of a franchise should. He avoided controversy during the months leading up to the May 8-10 draft and said all the right things. At the NFL Scouting Combine in late February, he insisted he was “absolutely” prepared to change his lifestyle as a professional.

“I believe whenever I decided to make this decision to turn professional, it was a time to really put my college years in the past,” Manziel said. “This is a job now. There’s guys’ families, coaches’ families and jobs and all kinds of things on the line. For me it’s nothing. It won’t be a hard thing to kick or anything really a hard deal to not do. I’m extremely focused on whatever organization I’ll be at and really pouring my heart out trying to be football 24/7 with that team.”

Then Manziel vowed he wouldn’t be high maintenance off the field when ESPN’s Jon Gruden pressed him on the subject during Gruden’s QB Camp.

The day after the Browns drafted Manziel, he was asked if he had toned down his larger-than-life persona away from the field.

“I know I need to put all my time right now into maintaining my life in football and trying to be as good of a quarterback as possible,” he said. “Everything else is extra and really there’s not time for it right now. I’m very committed to expanding my knowledge of the game and getting better as a quarterback. That’s my focus right now.”

THIS IS ALARMING

The hypocrisy is alarming.

Browns coach Mike Pettine has repeatedly insisted he isn’t worried about Manziel’s partying, though he hasn’t addressed the media since the “money phone” video surfaced last week. In the aftermath of that incident, Vic Carucci, the Browns’ senior editor and co-host of the radio show broadcast from the team’s headquarters, said on the air that the organization either had talked to Manziel about his antics or would have a conversation of that nature with him.

If Pettine is the strong, direct leader I’ve labeled him, he must not only talk with Manziel, but also hold him accountable. If he wants his players to conduct themselves like professionals at all times, he should let it be known publicly. He also must powwow with player engagement director Jamil Northcutt and player engagement assistant Russell Maryland to ensure the organization is staying on top of the situation.

Pettine doesn’t want to micromanage players, though some need more managing than others. On June 10, he said the Browns would step in and reprimand Manziel if his behavior “becomes irresponsible or becomes part of something that involves breaking the law or something that we feel is a potential problem.”

HINT, HINT

When Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden said during a radio interview with WKNR last week that Manziel needs to enlist a “phone valet” and “try to have fun without the whole world knowing,” it might have been a hint that a potential problem is brewing in the locker room.

Haden is one of the friendliest players on the roster. If he’s willing to publicly declare that Manziel should stop flaunting his shenanigans, what do you think other veterans are saying privately?

If Manziel helps the Browns win, all will be forgiven. But for a quarterback to win consistently, he needs the support and trust of his teammates. The only way to obtain those things is to earn them.

Ultimately, it’ll depend on Manziel to do that. But it’s also the duty of the Browns to push him in the right direction.

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